This is awesome...you do take care of us! We were embarrassingly bereft when Whedonesque was down...much moaning about where are we going to get our news from many, myself included! Hope you know how much we do appreciate what you do!

Sounds like a great idea. I have been away for the past week on a horrible holiday, so I missed it. I'm very glad to be back and I'm trying to catch up on what I've missed, and it's a great idea to have some way of keeping us updated if anything similar happens again.

Thank you, Caroline, that's so thoughtful. If I said it once, I say it again for the 453rd...correction, 454th time. WHEDONesque is the finest site on the internet.

That was a rather strange day. I checked in before heading for work and got the 'Forbidden' message and thought (correctly),"Oh, the server must be down. No biggie." Checked again at lunch and received the same message. Went back to work with all these horrible thoughts starting to spin up in my head. Wish to share them, they're worth a good laugh.

"Oh my God, I've been banned. Not only as a member, but as a lurker too! Is that possible? Could Simon do that? Oh my God!"

"Our site was hacked and hijacked. No telling what they could be doing with it."

"They decided enough is enough and pulled the the plug. Where the heck am I to go now? No other sites can touch it. How do I talk to my friends? Oh my God!"

A busy mind with little input to speculate on can truly be a dangerous place ;) By the time I returned home, I made a beeline to computer to check out the Serenity board ("They must know something!"). There, I saw Simon's post about the server's problems and I think I melted out of my chair in relief. Then, I had a hearty laugh at myself.

Oh you missed out on all the fun Razor. Let's see; woke up, crawled to computer, hit Whedonesque, had minor meltdown as thought I had been banned for life! Tried desperately to find any email address of mods but was locked out of other sites run by Caroline (same server), freaked some more.
Had coffee, lightbulb moment...thought I'd ask on Flickr, relieved to realise I wasn't the only one. Then mild panic that the love thread and many other fantastic moments would be forever lost. Finally saw my favorite black and red window, went to sleep .

Caroline, I run sites for work & I don't look at them nearly as much as I look at Whedonesque (shh, don't tell anyone). Did you have any idea when you started it how big it would grow? Are your servers ready to be slammed when Serenity opens? This site is wonderful, thanks to the moderators and the techies who run it with such grace & style. You & everyone who works so hard on the site are definitely appreciated!

Got to work, snuck onto Whedonesque for my guilty first coffee and whedonesque moment. Or tried. Was refused. Panic. How could they have found out? I mean, what could I possibly have done to deserve this? Kept checking then finally realized through the Serenity site that I was not the only one. But by then my sister had phoned me long distance to say she had been kicked off Whedonesque and she had never even managed to be a member!
Joss forbid it should ever happen again!

Ah, Allyson, ever the advocate of backup plans. The Internet would be a lonely place without her and those like her making sure we all have systems in place for when it breaks. Thank you, Allyson! Thank you, Caroline!

I second that. Other big site? Anyone with an inkling of Joss knows that Whedonesque is the source of news and discussion. There's no substitute. What sets this site apart from others is your wonderful choice of MODS that are truly involved in this room. Yourself, Simon, herb, milo, and SoddenNancyTribe all set a tone here that we find ourselves drawn to. Here, we speak the truth of our minds and we will respect others in doing the same. That's the difference.

Other big site? Anyone with an inkling of Joss knows that Whedonesque is the source of news and discussion.

The other big site big site I run, I meant. Starts with a U and ends in log.com.

Did you have any idea when you started it how big it would grow? Are your servers ready to be slammed when Serenity opens?

I had no idea. I hoped, but to be honest, I was sure we came too late (near the end of Buffy) to the scene and from too far away (Holland? Do they even HAVE TV's over there?).

This site was supposed to be Buffyfilter.com, but someone else snatched the domain. I had to choose another name and agreed with the people who got buffyfilter.com that I would take a different approach: covering all Joss Whedon's output rather than just 'Buffy'.

Milo and I were faster in developing our site than the buffyfilter.com team and in the end they decided not to proceed at all.

When Buffy ended and Angel was cancelled I gave the site another year or so. I expected interest to dwindle. I had no idea Joss Whedon would become so incredibly prolific. I had no idea the interest and publicity for his stuff would be (and remain) so... voluminous.

I had no idea there would be Firefly, and comics, and big damn movies, or that fans would be so loyal to the actors and the development of their careers.

So... picking 'whedonesque.com' because buffyfilter was gone, proved to be a winner. My next decision was too. I'd been reading Simon's stuff on the Cross and Stake board (I learnt a lot from how that board was moderated!) and I had an inkling he'd make the perfect mod for Whedonesque.com. Thankfully, he accepted. Without him, this place would have sunk a long time ago. I know myself, my temper and my impatience!

I think that as long as there are links to post and people to read them, there will be a Whedonesque.com.

Cheers, Caroline and all the rest at Whedonesque. Loved hearing more about how the site took off and chuffed (in both sense, actually) at the higher traffic and somewhat lower signal/noise ratio... On the one hand it means good things for Joss and the 'verse and all of its past/present/future inhabitants, but at the same time its the end of an era in a way. Long live Whedonesque :)

Caroline, it was nice to get that glimpse into the creation of Whedonesque. I'm reasonably certain that buffyfilter.com wouldn't just fly off my fingers the way Whedonesque does.

Though I whined a little bit on flickr, I didn't really express just how terrified I was for a split second that I had been locked out of W completely, with no lurking rights. I got this irrational fear that through some virus, the naughty website I had up in one window somehow got mixed up with Whedonesque in another window. I wasn't sure whether to be distraught over being booted out altogether, or horribly embarrassed by the cause for my having been booted! :)

Whether I'm feeling chatty or not, Whedonesque is simply always an open window on every computer I'm on. It's like a member of my family. Thank you to all who make this site what it is.

SpikeBad's mention of the alphabet made me wonder: has anyone else noticed the preponderance of proper names of main characters, recurring characters, and locations in the Buffyverse that contain the letter "L"?

April, I didn't forget you. The Aprilbot (I think) was just in the one episode. Everyone listed was in at least two, and most in more than two. There's a whole slew of one-off characters with "L", but don't worry, I won't list them.

Thanks for the DefCon. Being without really shook me, more than I ever expected. Whedonesque is...essential.

And thank you, Caroline, for the brief but oh so informative history. Many a time I've wondered, but haven't wanted to bother you by asking. It was really cool to get that nugget, and I hope maybe we can hear more from time to time.

It just keeps getting better. Whedonesque is ageing like a fine wine. Maybe we should change the site name to Barolo. No? Sorry...was that out loud?

It's wonderful how the mods take care of this place, the place takes care of business, and everyone takes care of each other. (Thank you, one and all. I was away from the web for an entire week while on vacation, and one of the hardest parts was missing my daily dose of 'nesque ponder and chat. Joss withdrawal, I found, makes me cranky.) The blog looks spiffy. I'm grateful for its presence -- like a comforting blankie that's folded up in the closet should I ever need it -- but I sincerely hope it gets little to no use.

Just like the cheese in Buffy, Whedonesque stands alone -- only with so much more meaning (and no funny smell, even on the hottest of days :)